Bird Fight

I know, the title sounds a bit strange. I was going to say interesting but I won’t try to fool anyone. There was a bird fight last Thursday in Cheney as the hometown EWU Eagles battled the Hawks from Monmouth a private FCS football team from New Jersey

Scheduled football games like this for Eastern aren’t normal. Typically they are on the road for their first couple of games and host a team when the students are back on campus in a couple of weeks. But this year the Eagles will have back to back home games before the students find their way back to Cheney.

There was some guarded optimism on Thursday. As returning fans we anticipated a much better product on the field than we had seen in the past couple of years and since we still remember the playoff teams from just a few years ago we want to see progress and make it snappy.

Thursday night’s game was entertaining and the Eagles jumped out to a 14- 0 first quarter lead. Efton Chism III or ECIII had one heck of a game as a receiver catching 12 balls for 173 yards and 3 TDs. Kekoa Visperas was 25=28 for 275 yards and five touchdowns and Tuna Altahir was impressive with 16 carries for 108 yards in one of his best games as an Eagle running back.

The Eagle offense was varied with a good mix of rushing and passing. The Eagle offense featured all three QBs got playing at key times in the game. Michael Wortham and Jared Taylor mostly ran the ball in a Wildcat style but on one particular play to keep the defense honest a pass was thrown to Visperas who set up as a slot receiver and the catch and run garnered seven yards and a first down.

Chism was the star of the night with his three TDs because he made moves and broke tackles to earn those six point runs. He is this year’s go to receiver with Nolen Ulm as an important target as well.

Defensively the Eagles limited the Hawks’ runners to 51 yards on 20 carries. The Monmouth QB had 27 completions for 390 yards and 3 TDs. Two of those touchdowns came in the 4th quarter after the Eagles had a 42-14 lead. I’m not sure how many young guys were on the field at the time but I do know that one DB let a receiver get behind him for an easy pass and catch for a score.

With a 42-27 lead late in the game Monmouth was once again on the move when an Eagle defender knocked a pass away from a Hawk receiver but was flagged for pass interference. On the very next play Kentrell Williams intercepted a Hawk pass to seal the game for Eastern. That was the only turnover in the game that was also relatively free of penalties. A game played this early in the season with only one turnover and very few penalties should be a good sign for both teams.

It was a beautiful night for a football game with no breeze to speak of after the wild winds of Tuesday. It wasn’t hot or humid it was a great night to watch as a fan and participate as a player.

Eastern will now host Drake on Saturday with kickoff at 4:00. There will be a few things that need to be cleaned up which is important but slowing down the running game of a good sized team should make the defensive coaches happy. This will be the Bulldogs first game of the 2024 season as their first game against Quincy was canceled.

Eagle fans are hoping for a good season with a playoff berth at the end but the Big Sky is loaded again this year so every victory that Eastern can muster is crucial. Go Eags!

— Dale Anderson is a sports columnist from Ritzville. To contact him, email [email protected].